Etón FR160R Microlink Self-Powered AM/FM/NOAA Weather Radio (Red)

• AM (520-1710 KHz) and FM (87-108MHz)
• NOAA weatherband ? all 7 channels
• Built-in 3 white LED light source
• Powered by solar or dynamo both of which charge internal Ni-MH battery
• USB cell phone charger

This radio is a great little investment. It does exactly everything it states it should. On a 60 second crank I got hours of play. I ran the radio completely dead by leaving the light on and the radio playing at half column. I let the radio play like this with the light on for at least an hour before it went dead. I then put it out in the sun and let it charge with the solar charger for about four hours and then turned the radio on and let it play for only about an hour and then just didn't want to complete the experiment. I am very pleased with this radio. 60 seconds of cranking for hours of play is very reasonable. Letting it charge out in the sun and getting hours of play is very reasonable. I have other brands like this in the past that you would crank for 5 to 10 and get maybe 10 minutes of play.

Update as of 5/14/2012.

I let it sit out in the rain all day today, and it hardly got any water in it... It still works!

Of course,

M. Mason would want to know exactly how hard the rain was... The weatherman says up to 1"/Hour.

M. Mason would want to know exactly how long it sat in the rain? approximately 8 hours...

I took it apart, noticed about 4 drops of approximately 1 mm in diameter. After an hour, got tired of waiting and put it back together, it seems to work fine.

The AM/FM radio works fine, and the weather radio works. Of course, time will tell how the Dynamo works, but I don't expect water to effect the solar charging. I won't turn the dynamo for a while, as the battery should have a full charge as it sat out in the sun yesterday. How long? I just don't know, sorry M. Mason.

I finally packed it in an air tight container with an old packet of Desiccant to try and dry out any remaining moisture. As long as the packet isn't too saturated, it should work...

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I read numerous reviews about this product and had concerns re: people's feedback -quality, lack of A/C power adapter, time/effort to recharge a cell phone, USB charger which is useless when there's no power, etc. But I decided to buy one just because I've got a young family and it's my responsibility [gulp] to be at least minimally prepared. You got to admit that these storms in recent years (not to mention tornados, earthquakes, fires, and other disasters that occur constantly) demonstrate that help may take days or weeks to arrive. That's a long time when you remember that lights, ATM's, radios, etc don't work when bad things happen.

So I pulled the trigger w/ low expectations and am I glad I did. These FR-160's are ideal for their purpose: they provide basic lighting & communication (read: radio/weather) in case of emergency. The quality was shockingly good for only $30. And they're small -pretend your hand is in a mitten and subtract your thumb...about that size. They're not meant to provide music for a party so don't expect it amazing quality sound. They're not designed to be used on the ocean as your boat's only radio. Don't drop it off a cliff and expect it to be good as new. They're designed to be a compact combination radio/flashlight that can be a lifesaver if you ever need it.

Keep safe...

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This radio is an excellent radio for the price. No, it is not a top-end emergency radio, but it should work rather well for anyone looking for a basic AM/FM/Weather radio with both a solar and hand-crank charging option. I purchased mine about a year ago and used it only occasionally for the first few months. Then I placed it on a shelf with limited light and there it sat for about six to eight months. About six weeks ago I dusted it off and it actually worked for about an hour or so with no hand-crank charging. Later that day I sat it in the front window where it would get plenty of direct sun light. A couple days later I picked it up from the window and have been using it a few hours each day since; some of those days it was used for more than six hours in the basement. I have not needed to crank it at all, but did crank charge it for about one minute total just while playing with it for the record. Since then, I have been keeping it on the shelf out in the open where it is exposed to normal room daylight, no direct sunlight. The charging light does not light up in this setting, and I would not expect it to. I have occasionally taken it out on the front porch to sit a listen where there is direct sunlight, but only for about an hour or so each week. I really like the idea of not having to buy batteries, and the convenience of knowing I always have a charged radio.

The flashlight is minimal, but I would not expect more from an LED light source. I have my 6-D-Cell Mag light if I need a powerful (luxury) light source.

Tuning the radio is a bit sensitive and can be difficult to fine tune. I would consider this to be a SIGNIFICANT problem for an elderly person or anyone without the use of fine motor skills in their hands; but for me it is a minor hassle I am willing and able to deal with. I have considered getting the Eaton FR600 for its digital tuner. The reviews for that model suggest the battery life is pretty bad, so I have decided to wait for an improved model. For now, my FR160 is just fine. I would consider giving this 5-stars if the fine-tuning was much easier.

The USB charge does work, but know that it will not charge an iPhone 3Gs. This is more a problem/restriction of the iPhone 3Gs (a widely discussed complaint across the Internet for many-many generic charging devices) and is not because of the radio. Charging my old Samsung phone was not a problem.

The weather bands do pick up a signal, but to be absolutely honest, I have not used it much to provide any real opinion.

The hand-crank charger feels solid enough (I wouldn't abuse it) and tucks away securely when not used. I have found the manual crank-charger will provide about 25-30 minutes of radio time (at about 1/4 to 1/3 volume) for every minute of crank-charging. I average about 2 cranks per second or about 120 rotation per minute. Now I just count to 120 or so instead of watching the clock. This play-time per craink-time yeild has been very acceptable for me. After two minutes of crank-charging my hand does begins to tire a little, but just a little. If I leave the radio in a place with good direct sunlight when not using it, changing via the crank is never even needed.

In short, it works for what I want a radio that that can be charged by sunlight or by hand-crank when absolutely necessary. If you want the construction and feature-set of a $100+ radio buy a $100+ radio. But, for $30 (or less), I am pleased with the FR160.

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ABSOLUTELY DO NOT USE THIS TO CHARGE AN IPHONE !!!! I have a 32GB 3GS that I purchased in February. I purchased the Eton Microlink FR160 for a Cub Scout campout to celebrate the 100 years of scouting. We were camping in a farm field with no access to electricity. When I used it to charge my iPhone, it FRIED IT! I mean no phone, all loss of data, completely black screen. The Apple store tried to due a hard reset and couldn't even get it to turn on. Thank goodness that the phone was still under warranty! Apple gave me a new phone, but I had to reload EVERYTHING! A HUGE time commitment and pain. Tech support from Eton was willing to replace my iPhone and very helpful. They emphasized to me to NOT USE this to charge an iPhone! All other features are awesome and weather band works great. I will keep it for that reason only.

JeffZman

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This is truly a phenomenal product. Everything works as described, including the cell phone charging which can be quite a boon when going away from electricity abroad, to other countries, or hiking/camping/backpacking.

The light powerful halogen type LEDs that power the device, as strong as a good bike light. Battery can be charged via solar or hand crank. Three to five minutes of hand crank has given me over two hours of battery life, and still no sign of dying battery. That's quite a great find for people who need a flashlight all the time like I do.

The radio a bit weak with the speakers, but works. Includes a weather band. A bit of a blah item, especially since the dials pop off all the time.

The charger Great little device. Can charge all your Apple iPod products, including bluetooth headsets, and your iPhone. A big reason I waited for the next gen Eton charger was for the iPhone charging...really great and works well. Charge your iPhone, iPhone 3G (and probably the new 3GS).

Well worth $30

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MIDLAND WR300 Weather Radio

• Receives All NOAA Weather Channels
• S.A.M.E. Technology
• AM/FM Radio with Clock and Alarm
• Memory system for 30 Counties
• Ability to Add & Remove Alerts

After having tried just about every SAME technology weatheradio out there, I found the WR-300 to be one of the better ones, and definitely the best of the Midland weatheradios to date.

One of the best features it has is that it allows you to disable the audiable alerts for every watch/warning except life threatening ones like tornado warning, or biological hazard warning, etc. Other brands and models will only allow you to disable the most harmless events. I do not wish to be alerted at 3am because of a severe thunderstorm warning, or tornado watch. With the WR-300, I won't be alerted unless there is actually a tornado warning.

The blue LED backlit LCD display is pretty sharp looking, too! There is a menu feature that allows you to continuously keep the blue backlighting on, although I think it would be too bright in a bedroom at night, especially if the WR-300 is right next to the bed on a nightstand.

Some people have complained about the beeps for every keypress, and I did not find that to bother me. Maybe a softer "click" sound for every keypress would be better. Also, others have reported that their WR-300 leaked audio when the WX is muted. I did not have this problem at all; it worked fine for me.

Things I really liked about the WR-300:

1) Extensive audiable alert disable ability

2) Form factor and relatively small size

3) Blue backlit display

4) 4-AA battery backup (instead of 9v transistor batt)

5) Am/Fm/clock/alarm features

6) Menu flexibility (although not that intuitive)

I gave the WR-300 a 4 instead of 5 star rating because of the following minor issues:

1) No display of event(s) remaining time(s)

2) Menu navigation and master alert disable/enable operation was not intuitive.

3) No visual indication as to whether or not the master audible alert is enabled or disabled.

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I purchased 2 of these to replace the Midlands I lost in a tornado on July 13, 2004. The old radio saved the lives of myself, our 5 yr old and 3 of our grandchildren. If the radio had not been gone off, we would likely be dead. I never would have looked out the back door in time to get us all in the basement before an F4 hit our home. We live in the country and I have always had a weather radio. I tell everyone I know to get weather radio .

This is a nice model and I like the AM/FM feature. The problem I continually have had with every radio is that we live in the middle of the coverage areas and don't get the best signal at times. I have solved this by putting a Chore Boy stainless steel scrub pad on the antenna. It definitely improves the reception and seems to do better that foil. Other than that I think this is the best one I have had.

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I purchased this unit 6 months ago with the fear of "tornado season" coming. I live in an area where a tornado is likely with almost every storm. In past years, Easter weekend has been ruined by the destruction of houses in the path of a tornado.

We hear the alarm and listen to the weather service warning BEFORE the news stations can announce the warning on t.v.

The WR-300 has been great. The alarm is clearly heard by everyone throughout the house and the display gives a read out of the alert while the alarm is sounding. You can hear the local weather service with the touch of a button or press the AM/FM button and listen to local radio stations of your choice. The use of this radio is very simple. My kids know how to turn off the siren and how to press the weather radio button to listen to the verbal warning from the National Weather Service. The alarm is a great asset to have during night time hours.

The radio can be plugged in for everyday use and then when power is out for whatever reason, the backup batteries take over so that you can hear announcements and further weather warnings.

Many people have complained about the beeping while pressing the buttons. Yes, there is a beep but it is not that annoying. We do not do very much button pushing in the middle of the night and it has not bothered us.

There is a weekly test that can be a little annoying if you are asleep during the day. My husband is military and his schedule changes regularly, sometimes causing him to work mid-shift. When he is sleeping during the daytime hours, the alarm sounding during the weekly test can be disturbing but it is a small price to pay for safety. On the other side, the weekly test is a nice option. Each week we are assured that the radio is working and the alert will come through during an emergency.

This is a great item and wonderful purchase to make for yourself or a loved one. You really can not put a price on safety.

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I got one of these back in early April of this year. We had a couple of days of severe weather in the area. The unit would not alert when the NWS sent out alerts. I changed back and forth from "multi" county to "all" counties, but no alerts. I was listening to the alerts on another weather radio I have, and I don't believe they were broadcasting the data burst with the SAME info contained in the burst. I was only hearing the 1050khz tone. I contacted Midland via email to ask them if the unit responds to both the tone, and data burst. They replied without answering the question, and asked me to return the unit since they thought it was faulty. I contacted Amazaon about returning the unit, and had no problem. In fact they automatically shipped out another unit. However when I received the new unit and set it up, it would not respond to alerts either. I sent an email to the NWS office here in Louisville to see if someone there had the same unit and could give me some advice. I heard back from them today, and they said they had two of same units in their office which they could never get to alert! They did not say anything about the data burst and the tone signal, but I'm GUESSING that this unit does not respond to the 1050khz tone only, but needs the data burst also. I'm going to contact Midland again about this and see what they say.

Update...I contacted Midland and they said the unit does not respond to the 1050hz tone, but to the SAME data burst. I can only assume the NWS office wasn't transmitting the SAME info. We have had an outbreak of numerous severe thunderstorms today, along with tornado watches...the unit has worked flawlessly. So sorry for the low rating, but if for some reason your NWS office doesn't transmit the SAME data the unit won't alert you.

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We bought this radio after the Tornadoes hit Florida in February in the middle of the night. That event was a serious reminder that a Hazards Radio can be as important to saving your life as a good smoke detector.

I looked at the WR-100 and the WR-300 and went with this unit. I believe the WR-300 is definitely worth the extra $$. Both have county-specific set-up which keeps you from getting woken up for alerts two counties away, but the WR-300 goes one step further and adds the capability to disable the audio alarm individually for some 30 or so specific alerts. For example, we diabled the Winter Weather items (since these are of little consequence in North Texas), as well as the Flood items since we live nowhere near a creak or other body of water. But we left the Tornado, Severe Thunderstorm, and Boil Water (?!) items audible-enabled.

This unit also has a Clock Radio with AM/FM (3 memory presets each) and a 9-minute snooze button.

These NOAA radios have come a long way, and this one is worth more than the price we paid for it.

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